


roam

by songs



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Freeform, M/M, this is so cheesy idec, what is time…..what is being IC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 18:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5937787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songs/pseuds/songs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s a boy Ronan likes. This is not a novel fact, in an of itself, but the boy is. Novel. He’s got a storybook sort of face, pointed and artful. Ronan is instantly smitten, in his barbed, guarded way. </p><p>It’s unexpected, but not; Ronan, after all, is rarely taken with lovely things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	roam

i.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. This is not a novel fact, in and of itself, but the boy is. Novel. He’s got a storybook sort of face, pointed and artful. Ronan is instantly smitten, in his barbed, guarded way.

 

It’s unexpected, but not; Ronan, after all, is rarely taken with lovely things.

 

ii.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. He’s eerily quiet and good at both Math and Latin. When he does speak, it’s with a clipped accent. Sometimes in the early mornings during class, his voice dawdles, like summertime and Henrietta. Ronan tucks the sound away like a note from a music-box.

 

Ronan does not dream of it. But sometimes, he forces himself out of bed, so he can wake to it.

 

iii.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes, and he’s trailing behind Gansey, looking rather lost and brittle in his own skin. Ronan sizes him up, as though he hasn’t a hundred times before.

 

Gansey says, “This is Adam.”

 

Ronan only grunts in reply. He doesn’t introduce himself. He does not say, _I know_.

 

iv.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. Right now, he’s simmering, near-silent in his disdain.

 

He— _Adam_ asks, “Do you have a problem with me?”

 

On principle, Ronan doesn’t lie. It’s a weak habit, ugly in the most ungratifying way. Even flames and demons have a beauty to them. Lies are just empty space.

 

So Ronan tells the truth. He bites back a _Yes,_ then dry-swallows a _No,_ because the Ronan Lynch lexicon regarding Adam Parrish is more complex than just a syllable or two.

 

Ronan says, “You’re not a problem, Parrish,” like it’s supposed to explain everything.

 

And it just might.

 

Adam regards him strangely, then, all the fight leaving him. Ronan only shrugs, looking away.

 

v.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. Sometimes he’s like a ghost. Ronan would know, because he’s also friends with one, and has— on multiple occasions— tossed said phantom outside of high-story windows.

 

Adam haunts Ronan, plain and simple. He comes to class and Monmouth looking sickly, under-eyes stamped with moons, hands slow and tired. Sometimes he arrives bruised as a peach, and Ronan at once is stricken with twin emotions: anger, and tenderness. Anger at whoever has done this, and then the frail, tender urge to mend and heal. Which is stupid, because Adam is not broken. Adam is not a doll or a shell.

 

But he fades. He fades very often. And he doesn’t deserve that, or any of this.

 

It makes Ronan furious.

 

vi.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. In an ironic turn of events, said boy likes a girl. She’s named after a color, which is tacky. She also maxes out at five-feet-tall, with heels. Which is fucking hilarious.

 

Adam and Blue date, until they don’t. Ronan wonders if he ever had a chance, until he doesn’t.

 

vii.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. And Ronan wants to be there for him.

 

Ronan, however, has never been too good with helping. But he tries. He cracks Robert Parrish’s jaw. He brings an envelope to a nun. He dreams softly, for the first time in ages, and emerges with a bottle of mint and moss.

 

_For your hands._

_For you._

 

viii.

There’s a boy Ronan likes. He’s watched Ronan die, which is only fair. Because Ronan has seen Adam war with much worse, dream or not. Lately, he’s been warring with Cabeswater, with mythic trees and thorny visions. But Ronan is not stupid enough to believe there isn’t more than that.

 

He actually had a nightmare, once before, of Adam dying on the ley-line, of Adam dying on the steps just outside the double-wide. Ronan finds his own dream-death to be quite palatable, in comparison.

 

ix.

 

There’s a boy Ronan likes. A boy Ronan _loves._ Which is beyond foolish, because nobody has ever needed Ronan’s love. Ronan loves a dead father and a dead language. A sleeping mother. Dream-birds and dream-brothers. While Ronan’s mind can do wonders, Ronan’s heart has never done anything for those he loves.

 

Ronan’s heart has always been quite a damaged thing.

 

x.

 

There’s a boy Ronan loves. And he’s leaning in, close enough to kiss. Which may be his intention, if Ronan could let himself believe it. Adam presses his forehead against Ronan’s, shuts his eyes and parts his lips, murmuring, “Please.”

 

Ronan shudders. “Adam?”

 

“ _Ronan,_ ” Adam says, breathing from his mouth. “Ronan. All this time. I— You’re _killing_ me.”

 

 _That’s my line,_ Ronan thinks, and then, he’s moving. They’re both moving, and then they’re kissing, very gently, very slowly.

 

In between it all, Adam tells him: “You, I. Ronan. I l—”

 

xi.

 

There’s a boy Ronan loves. There’s a boy Ronan _loves._

 

Adam is holding Ronan’s hand. The skin along his knuckles is soft, and Ronan kisses the valley between every jutting bone. Adam lets out a breathy laugh. He says, “Get off me, you oaf. I have work.”

 

Ronan grins. “That’s not what you were saying last night,” he says. But he still complies.

 

“Oh?” Adam asks, challenging. “And what was I saying?”

 

Ronan’s smirk dips into a smile, and he bends forward to plant a quick kiss along Adam’s temple. “I dunno. You tell me.”

 

“Asshole,” Adam says, laughing. “But I love you anyway.”

 

“Mm,” Ronan says, still smiling. “Me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> comments are super duper appreciated!!!


End file.
